A two-day general strike called to protest a
government crackdown on the urban poor began slowly today with a heavy
police presence on the streets of Harare.

A broad alliance of civic
society groups, churches, opposition parties, unions and a women's group
called for the general strike today and tomorrow to protest what the
government calls a campaign to improve the cities, but which the UN says has
left at least 200,000 urban poor homeless and more than 30,000 under
arrest.

Police have warned for days that they will "deal ruthlessly"
with anyone participating in the strike.

The Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Unions said three of its employees in Bulawayo were arrested at their
homes before dawn today for allegedly organising the strike.

The
stay-away appeared to be starting slowly. Main roads were only slightly less
busy this morning as people reported to work. There also were major traffic
jams in downtown Harare after police sealed off a huge area ahead of
President Robert Mugabe's appearance to open Parliament.

Trudy
Stevenson, an opposition member of Parliament, said police began rounding up
residents of one Harare township this morning.

"Police are now in
Hatcliffe ... rounding everyone up and piling them onto lorries. Their
belongings are being put on separate lorries, so they fear they will lose
everything," Stevenson said.

"They are not being told where they are
being taken, but they have the impression it is far away and they might be
kept in a holding camp under guard," she added.

Opposition
politicians and civic society groups accuse the government of burning or
demolishing the homes of urban poor to punish them for voting for the
opposition.

They also allege the government is trying force people to
leave the cities, which are opposition strongholds, and return to ruling
party controlled rural areas so that they can be more tightly controlled
politically.

The government said the crackdown was a campaign to clean up
cities and stop street traders, which it calls economic saboteurs. The UN
has accused the government of gross human rights abuses with the
campaign.

Six Roman Catholic bishops issued a statement today condemning
the crackdown known as Operation Murambatsvina, which means 'drive out
trash'.

"A grave crime has been committed against poor and helpless
people. We warn the perpetrators ... history will hold you individually
accountable," the bishops said in the statement.

The main opposition
Movement for Democratic Change party urged the people to take part in the
strike.

"We call upon all the people of Zimbabwe to organise themselves
and protest against the actions of ... this criminal regime," the party
said.

Economists, however, said it would be difficult to make a general
strike effective because only about 800,000 of Zimbabwe's 12 million people
had jobs in the formal sector. More than 4 million people had emigrated and
500,000 had lost their jobs during five years of unprecedented economic
decline.

The
streets of the Zimbabwe capital, Harare, were quiet early on Thursday after
civil rights groups and the opposition called for a two-day strike to
protest growing social and economic hardships and a crackdown by police
against the urban poor.

Few people could be seen on the
normally bustling shopping areas at the start of business. While most banks
and shops appeared to be open, customers were scarce and many people
appeared to have heeded calls for a stayaway.

Southern
industrial areas of the capital were also quiet.

Police and
army trucks were spotted in some areas, but there was no sign of a major
police clampdown. The police had threatened to come down hard on any street
protests by civil and democratic rights activists.

The first
day of the strike came as President Robert Mugabe was due to open
Parliament, the first session by the 150-seat Assembly since his ruling
Zanu-PF won disputed elections on March 31.

The 81-year-old
head of state told a reception at his official residence in Harare on
Wednesday evening that the Southern African country will "never
collapse".

"We will never collapse. We may have our droughts,
but as a people we will never collapse," Thursday's edition of the
state-controlled Herald quoted him as saying.

The strike
has been called for by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC),
civil rights groups and workers' and students' unions to protest shortages
of basic commodities, including the staple maize meal, and biting transport
problems.

The organisers are also protesting a three-week-old
police blitz on "illegal" flea markets and shack homes.

The action has left an estimated 200 000 people without shelter, while more
than 22 000 people have so far been arrested for a variety of alleged
crimes, including hoarding basic commodities and dealing on the black
market.

Police and members of the army could be seen outside
Harare's Parliament building on Thursday morning. Mugabe was due to make a
major policy statement when he opened Parliament at
midday.

There have been calls for opposition lawmakers to
boycott the ceremony, usually done with pomp and fanfare, in solidarity with
Thursday's protest.

The MDC won only 41 seats to
Zanu-PF's 78-seat majority in polls in March, but the opposition claims
there was rigging and it is due to mount court challenges to 16 seats won by
Mugabe's party. -- Sapa-DPA

Something has to be done! I cannot believe that our government has done
nothing about the poor and starving people of Zimbabwe. So many reports of the
truth and still no action. How can the people win without our help? I believe
that the UK must stand up and take the lead. It's no longer about politics but
basic human rights. How can we stand by and watch?Dave Seward,
UK

How much longer can neighbouring African countries, in particular, South
Africa continue to condone this horror through their silence and blatant support
for a ruthless and corrupt government?Briony Cobban, London,
UK

If invading Iraq was a human rights issue, as some supporters of the invasion
are now claiming, why haven't those same forces invaded Zimbabwe for the same
reason? Could it be because there's no oil in Zimbabwe, or am I just being
cynical?Peter, London, UK

The biggest problem Zimbabwe has today is poor leadership coming from Mugabe
and opposition. The behaviour of Mugabe has shown that he is prepared to serve
another master (China) rather than Zimbabweans. The difference between China and
white Zimbabweans is that the whites had Zimbabwe at heart and contributed to
its development. Now Zimbabwe has become another example of the norms of African
governments. Unless Africa gets rid of poor leadership such as that of Thabo
Mbeki, Mkapa, Museveni etc. we are going to be a laughing stock in the 21st
century.Duran Rapozo, Manchester, UK

The employee is caught in a tight spot

Zobha, Harare

The business is so strained by the current economic problems that the
employers can no longer afford to miss a day due to the stay away. The employee
is caught in a tight spot - whether to take part in the industrial action and
risk losing their jobs or go to work and betray the general populace who protest
against the repressive regime. It makes more sense to go to work because you
never know what may happen to your job if you don't. I think everyone is waiting
for some spontaneous protest and we do hope it will happen some
day.Zobha, Harare, Zimbabwe

We the people of Zimbabwe must stand up for ourselves! With very few options
available, a stay-away is the right way to get things started. We cannot blame
anyone but ourselves if we don't make the effort to bring about change. Every
single one of us must begin to defy tyranny even if it is in the smallest way.
No-one is coming to help us!James, Ruwa, Zimbabwe

I feel the United Nations should be granted the power to act in a really
positive way to bring dictators to heel. Words and oral warnings do nothing to
rid an oppressed people of a despot dictator. Any action taken would have to be
ordered and directed by the United Nations and not the president of the United
States of America and any of his cohortsEdward Seyforth, Halifax,
Canada

I am ashamed to be part of this docile lot

Ali Ali, Harare

We Zimbabweans deserve what the regime is doing to us. We want change but
cannot raise a finger to join the stay-aways or any other form of protest. I am
ashamed to be part of this docile lot. Let us keep on toiling and suffering
until Robert passes away, because that is what everyone is waiting for.
Shame!Ali Ali, Harare, Zimbabwe

Mass protest is the only solution left for the suffering citizens of
Zimbabwe. They must remove the dictator and make the country free again. Mugabe
has a home but after the recent atrocities against the informal traders and
shanty towns there are thousands who have been made homeless. Mugabe must go and
must be brought to court and made to answer. Democracy has gone, long time ago,
in Zimbabwe but what is happening now is a step too far.Pravin Mistry,
Coventry, UK

Strikes are not the answer. The opposition should not use people to further
their selfish agendas. What the government is doing is as right as it can be.
These strikes will not save anything but to put Tsvangirai on the spotlight.
This MDC thing has brought suffering among us, only because they want to rule
our beautiful Zimbabwe. Tsvangi please leave us alone.Zvimbo, Harare,
Zimbabwe

There are no strikes here! I am really surprised by these misleading reports.
Such clear lies and misleading information will not help the MDC. The UK
certainly has a hostile position on Zimbabwe and it is very clear to everyone in
Zimbabwe.Farirai Mutema, Gweru, Zimbabwe

When living in Kenya thirty years ago, we were told that, although Kenya was
gorgeous, Uganda was even better and Zimbabwe was the most beautiful African
country of all. Unfortunately I never had a chance to see for myself - and one
man's delusions have now wrecked this once lovely country. I consider their
future very grim.Diane Laasner, Seuzach, Switzerland

I am on stay away but I think mass protests in the streets are the best idea
in order to remove Mugabe's regime. The MDC leader should lead the
people.Moses, Harare, Zimbabwe

The UK and USA are quiet, don't they see this tsunami? People are deprived of
their rights. Shelters and means of fundraising have been demolished.
Zimbabweans need to stand up and speak up, not only anticipating a change from
one man Dr Tsvangirai. These strikes bring a change only after a long run.
Cool, Harare, Zimbabwe

It is time that the world stood up and did something to stop Mugabe
from destroying what's left of Zimbabwe

Christopher, Manchester, England

I think it is time
that the world stood up and did something to stop Mugabe from destroying what's
left of Zimbabwe. This country up until recently was a thriving African nation.
Now it is at the point of anarchy and mass starvation. The world is talking
about helping Africa, the perfect way to show it would be helping to free
Zimbabwe from this nightmare.Christopher Thompson, Manchester,
England

What other option do the poor suffering Zimbabweans have? The rest of the
world appears to have turned their backs on the tragedy of Zimbabwe,
concentrating more on the Iraq issue among other issues. What are the UN and
Commonwealth doing?Phyllis Wheeler, Hemel Hempstead, Herts, UK

Mugabe's inappropriate economic policies forced desperate citizens to the
slums and streets. Forceful evictions are not a sustainable solution. He must
accept the blame and reconcile with the opposition for a better
future.Edward Ssemakula, Kampala, Uganda

Peaceful disobedience has to be the way for the population to show that
despite the intense intimidation and persecution the spirit is strong. God be
with these brave people - they deserve better.Matt, Chelmsford

The situation in Zimbabwe - with the deafening silence from its neighbours -
comes at an ironic time, with Sir Bob and Co gearing up for Live 8. I believe
the Government should not give a brass farthing of debt relief until the African
countries show real delivery of the fine words in the Nepad
agreement.David, London N1

Mugabe must step down whether by his own choice or through international
pressure being placed upon the country. Zimbabwe is already a country in ruin
with many people already dying of Aids and possibly starvation. Just like the
world answered the call for democracy and freedom in South Africa it should also
do the same for Zimbabwe or isn't Zimbabwe rich enough in minerals
etc?Susan Cutler, Alberton, South Africa

It's high time someone knocked some sense into the leaders of
Zimbabwe, both ruling and opposition

Nash, Harare,
Zimbabwe

Strikes only make
things worse than what they are already. If we remember well, the then Mayor of
Harare Eng Mudzuri and his council wanted the proposed demolition of these
illegal structures but was denied by the Minister of Local Government. Is it a
matter now of who is doing it or trying to get a cheap political mileage?

People get beaten up during these strikes while the champions of the events
are drinking tea in their luxurious homes. Why influence people to commit such
suicide? It's high time someone knocked some sense into the leaders of Zimbabwe,
both ruling and opposition, and start working together as a nation. Constructive
dialogue is required, no hatred but love for a change. We pray for our beloved
country everyday that peace and not confrontations prevail. I know God has not
forgotten us and it's not far before we get back to the sunshine country
again.Nash, Harare, Zimbabwe

I am in Harare right now. We are all at work in a new look like Sunshine
City. The demolitions have of course been long over due. If you have any
journalists in our city right now call them to confirm. I am not a politician
but I love my country. I say no to propaganda.Shephard Matongo,
Harare, Zimbabwe

Where are the masses who protested the invasion of Iraq now. All those crying
out against the invasion in the name of democracy and human rights. I don't see
too many of them outside any of the Zimbabwean Embassy's around the world. There
are not too many of them outside the Sudanese Embassy's either. Or is it
acceptable when regimes kill and abuse their own people (as long as America is
not involved that is). It's sickening.Ackerman, Copenhagen,
Denmark

I know the strike will crumble the already dithering economy. But going
forward is now as bad as going backwards.Sebastian Nyamhangambiri,
Harare

I am neither a Zimbabwean nor do I know anyone on strike in Zimbabwe but I
have a lot of friends in Zimbabwe. I am therefore concerned with what is
happening. I strongly condemn the evictions as they are abusing rights of
innocent and helpless people. I however, think strikes will not be a right
option as this will lead to even more victims. With what the Zimbabwean
government has done already, nothing will stop them from using an 'iron fist' on
the strikers. In my opinion, this combined with the land saga, spell a bleak
future for Zimbabwe. I sympathise with Zimbabweans.Thabbie Chilongo,
Lilongwe, Malawi

Police are now in Hatcliffe Extension New Stands, rounding
everyone up and piling them onto lorries. Their belongings are being put on
separate lorries, so they fear they will lose everything. They are not
being told where they are being taken, but they have the impression it is
far away, and that they might be kept in a "Holding Camp" under
guard.Please get the word out, and encourage powerful people to take
whatever action they can to protect and assist these innocent
people.Thank you.Trudy Stevenson MPHarare North Constituency

CHRA is again taking the Minister of Local
Government to the High Court foryet again violating the same law as in 2001,
together with the Chairman ofthe Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) and the
several Commissionersappointed by the Minister to the Harare Commission.
Papers have been servedon all the respondents and we are hoping to have an
urgent chamber hearingwithin the next day or two.

We should not be
repeatedly forced to seek judicial enforcement of the clearrequirements of
the Urban Council Act. By law, elections for six vacantcouncil seats in
Harare should have been held in 2003 while the election foran Executive
Mayor was due by June 2004. Further elections for another 30 to34 council
seats should have been held by November 2004. The RegistrarGeneral simply
ignored and broke these laws and held no elections in Harare.The ZEC has
assumed the responsibility for holding elections but donenothing to remedy
these violations of the law in regard to Harare whileholding local
government elections in other urban centres.

On 9 December 2004, the
Minister appointed his Commission for 24 months whenthe Act clearly only
permits him to appoint such Commissions for a maximumof 6 months. He simply
ignored that law. The Commissioners' term of officeexpired today. By law,
the Commissioners were also obliged to ensure thelawbreaking by the
electoral authorities was remedied before then andelections held. They have
simply ignored that law. The Supreme Court hasalready ruled that a
Commission is illegal after 6 months and that theMinister can not reappoint;
so it seems from 10 June 2005, Harare will ceaseto have lawful local
government. The Minister's unlawful reappointment ofthe Commission today is
a clear admission that he erred in his initialappointment.

Given the
failure of the ZEC, the Commissioners and the Minister to obey thelaws of
Zimbabwe, CHRA has asked the Court to order ZEC to immediately giveits
notice for elections to be held as quickly as possible, with polling by9
July 2005. The High Court and Supreme Court have come to the
residents'assistance in the same situation before and acted quickly
againstCommissioners behaving illegally. As the law has not been changed, we
hopethat the Court will do so again now. Without its urgent intervention
orimmediate action by ZEC, it seems the City will again face a
protractedperiod of illegal government.

It is ironic and hypocritical
that those Commissioners who have authorised abrutal assault upon residents
in a supposed clean-up are failing to ensurethat the electoral authorities
act according to the requirements of the lawand are themselves breaking the
law through this neglect.

It is also distressing to note that while the
mugabe regime has incorporatedmany of the SADC electoral principles into
recent legislation and in theoryaccepts that local authorities derive their
legitimacy through elections bycitizens, it did so in full knowledge that
Harare's elections were alreadyoverdue. Rather than implementing the
principles and ensuring these overdueelections were held, it appointed a
Commission instead for what is veryclearly an illegal period and the
Commissioners [which includes 2 lawyers]seem to accept that
illegality.

Harare's residents have enjoyed only one year of elected
local government inthe past 6 years. The mugabe regime has demonstrated a
complete contempt fordemocratic principles and seems intent on perpetuating
an illegality inHarare. We therefore hope that the courts will hear our
urgent applicationand compel the regime to comply with its legal duty. In
the interim, wewould point out that the reappointment of the Commission is
clearly illegaland that it has no mandate either from the law or from
residents. Anydecisions it makes or instructions it may issue to municipal
staff are nulland void and no resident or employee is obliged to obey such
unlawfulregulations as may be made by the illegal
Commission.-ENDS-

The UN says
some 200, 000 Zimbabweans have been made homeless in a two-week police
operation to demolish houses and markets, which the authorities say are
illegal. The opposition says it is punishment for areas which voted
against President Robert Mugabe in elections but the government says the
operation is needed to rid Zimbabwe's cities of criminal
elements.

A Catholic priest, who did not want to be identified,
described the scenes of devastation in the capital, Harare, to the BBC News
website:

"Open areas are full of people living rough. Whole
families are huddled together around a pile of possessions, surrounded by
the wreckage of their homes.

They are just waiting. Many have
nowhere to go.

They are being encouraged to go to their rural
homes. Some are going back - you can see a lot of trucks leaving Harare
loaded up with what people have managed to save.

But many have
not been there for a long time. They don't have houses there anymore and are
squatting with relatives for the moment.

June is one of the coldest
months of the year - it can get down to 0C - and I know of four people who
have died after spending two weeks sleeping in the open.

Some
are burning their possessions to keep warm and because they cannot afford to
pay to transport them to rural areas.

Some people are starting to
show signs of malnutrition, as they cannot cook, or they have no money to
buy food.

Churches invaded

There is also nowhere to
wash and I am worried about an outbreak of disease.

Some
children have had to be pulled out of school.

In some parts of
Harare, people have gone to spend the nights in their local
churches.

But in my area, there are too many people to fit in our
church.

We are assisting people by giving them food and blankets
and bus fares to those who have somewhere to go.

Just this
morning, I have paid out 10m Zimbabwe dollars (US$500) in bus
fares.

Those living rough are afraid that the police might come
back and "discipline" them.

Crammed

In many parts
of Harare, such as where I grew up, the houses were initially "matchbox"
houses, with four rooms, surrounded by gardens.

But as the
population grew, people built extensions without planning permission. With
all the extensions, you could have as many as 14 rooms, housing up to 30
people, in what was originally a four-room house.

So now, all these
extensions have been demolished. In some cases, this means three-quarters of
the living space.

Some families were ordered to knock down their
own homes.

People are trying to cram into the four, original rooms
but it is impossible.

Still going on

Those areas
of Harare which have not been directly affected by the demolitions are now
becoming overcrowded, as people go to stay with their friends and
relatives.

The demolitions and evictions started in Mbare in the
city centre, then they moved to the western townships such as Kambazuma, and
then Tafara in the east.

And they are still going on. Houses
are being knocked down as we speak.

The whole city has been
hit, as well as cities across the country.

But outside Harare, only
illegal market stalls have been affected, not houses.

There is
a holding camp on the outskirts of Harare, with maybe 200
people.

The police are guarding them but no-one knows what to
do with the people.

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe
President Robert Mugabe on Thursday defended the recent razing of
shantytowns and a crackdown on small traders as part of a government push to
curb corruption and raise the black majority's stake in the
economy.

Mugabe spoke at the official opening of a new parliament, which
the main opposition boycotted as part of a two-day strike to protest the
crackdown that critics say has deprived tens of thousands of people of homes
and livelihoods.

"The current chaotic state of affairs where (small
businesses) operated outside the regulatory framework and in undesignated
and crime-ridden areas could not be countenanced for much longer," Mugabe
told parliament, meeting for the first time since March elections critics
say were rigged.

Thousands of people have been arrested and thousands
more have seen informal business premises razed and goods confiscated in
what the government calls a clean-up campaign to root out crime, including
illegal trade in scant foreign currency and basic commodities like
sugar.

Mugabe said the government would introduce mandatory penalties for
illegal trade in foreign currency and precious metals, which authorities say
have thrived in shantytowns.

He made no direct reference to the
two-day "stayaway" called by civic groups with the backing of the opposition
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which appeared to draw little popular
support as it began on Thursday.

Mugabe said new bills to be tabled in
parliament included amendments to mining laws to rationalise issuing of
prospecting orders and to open up the foreign-dominated sector to
locals.

"The Empowerment Bill to provide a legal and institutional
framework to drive the national indigenisation (black empowerment) programme
shall also be brought up for consideration," Mugabe said.

AMEND
CONSTITUTION

Parliament would also amend the constitution which would
provide for the reintroduction of a senate, the creation of a single
electoral commission and streamlining procedures to complete the
government's controversial land reforms, he said.

Mugabe's ruling
ZANU-PF party can change the constitution at will thanks to a two-thirds
parliamentary majority clinched in March 31 elections that the MDC says were
rigged. ZANU-PF says the election was fair.

Critics say agricultural
disruption caused by the government's seizure of white-owned farms for
blacks is largely to blame for chronic food shortages over the last five
years, worsening the woes of Zimbabweans already grappling with erratic
supplies of fuel, record inflation and unemployment.

Mugabe says the land
reforms were necessary to restore land stolen from blacks during colonialism
and denies responsibility for the country's economic crisis. Instead he
blames sabotage by local and foreign opponents of the land
grab.

Civic groups, backed belatedly by the MDC, called for a strike to
protest the recent government crackdown which critics say has worsened the
plight of already stricken Zimbabweans.

The strike made a slow start
on Thursday and analysts said the MDC's decision to wait until Wednesday to
back it smacked of indecision within the MDC leadership, and may have
undermined the public's willingness to take part.

While early morning
traffic appeared lighter than usual in the capital Harare, most major
industrial sites and firms in the central business district were open and
employees at work.

Reports painted a similar picture around the
country.

Police have warned against the protests and set up roadblocks
along most highways leading into Harare, searching cars at random. There
were no early reports of trouble.

The main labour federation, the
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), said police had arrested three of
its activists for organising the strike in the second city Bulawayo. Police
denied the arrests, dismissing the strike as a "non-event".

Mugabe,
in power since independence from Britain in 1980, laughed off rumours
earlier this week that he had died of heart failure, and showed no obvious
signs of ill-health during his delivery to parliament on
Thursday.

African Protestant leader urges Zimbabwe to uphold 'rule of law'NAIROBI,
June 9 (AFP) - The leader of Africa's largest Protestant Church group called
Thursday on authorities in Zimbabwe to uphold the rights of citizens amid
mounting anger over a "clean-up" operation that has left tens of thousands
of people homeless.

Reverend Mvume Dandala, the secretary general of the
Nairobi-based All-Africa Conference of Churches (AACC), said his group was
increasingly concerned at the implications of the campaign in which police
have razed thousands of shanty homes and roadside kiosks over the past three
weeks.

"We trust that the government of Zimbabwe will ensure that her
citizens are protected fully and the rule of law is upheld fully in every
action taken," Dandala said in a statement that urged dialogue to end the
chaos.

He urged all sides -- President Robert Mugabe's government, the
opposition, critics who claim the operation is politically motivated and
ordinary Zimbabweans -- to embrace "reason together and solve these problems
through dialogue."

"At times like this (when) the air is filled with
cries and desperation from citizens of Zimbabwe, it is imperative that the
opposition, the government and the citizens give peace and dialogue a
chance," the statement said.

The AACC represents 169 Protestant Churches
in 39 countries across Africa and the statement was released as Mugabe
opened parliament in Harare with a call for "greater cohesion and unity"
amid an uproar over the operation.

The parliament opening was boycotted
by the opposition, which joined a national strike to protest the unpopular
urban clean-up drive that a UN expert said last week was creating a "new
kind of apartheid."

Since last month, armed police have been demolishing
and torching backyard shacks and makeshift shop stalls in the campaign
forcing tens of thousands of people to sleep in the open in slums and
townships around the capital.

Dandala said the human costs of the
operation -- including leaving vulnerable people at risk of a myriad of ills
-- had to be weighed carefully against any possible benefit.

"The
cost of these actions runs into millions of Zimbabwe dollars," he said.
"Furthermore, a number of families are now exposed to untold harsh winter
conditions, also lack water, shelter and food.

"Besides, many of
these people, particularly women and children, are now threatened with
possibilities of an outbreak of diseases," Dandala added, appealing to the
international community to assist those in
need.

The international community must
ensure that the situation in Zimbabwe after President Robert Mugabe does not
become explosive, a study says.

Rumours arose over the state of Mugabe's
health this week following media reports that he had sought medical
attention from a cardiologist. He has said that he will in any case stand
down in 2008.

The study 'Post-Election Zimbabwe: What Next?' by the
Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) warns that Zimbabwe faces
greater chaos and violence as President Robert Mugabe's era draws to a close
unless the international community starts planning together for a peaceful
transition to democracy.

"The post-election situation may seem like
business as usual, but Mugabe's era is ending. Both ZANU-PF and the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) now face existential
challenges," Peter Kagwanja, South Africa project director of the group says
in the report.

"The ageing of the old and the conflicting ambitions of
the would-be new ZANU-PF chieftains, as well as the growing frustration of
what until now has been a remarkably non-violent opposition ensure that
change of some kind is coming soon. Unless Zimbabwe's friends get busy and
get together, it is all too possible it will be violent and chaotic," he
says.

Mugabe, 81, and his ZANU-PF party won parliamentary elections
earlier this year. But they were widely condemned by the international
community as being flawed.

The Crisis Group, which tracks and
analyses developments in trouble spots says Mugabe and ZANU-PF "again
manipulated the electoral process through a range of legal and extra-legal
means to ensure that the election was basically decided well before the
first voters reached the polls."

Mugabe's party now holds the two-thirds
majority required to amend the constitution. Many experts believe that
ZANU-PF will use that power to prepare a safe retirement for its
leader.

But the think-tank warns that a peaceful transfer of power from
the Mugabe to a successor is far from guaranteed.

ZANU-PF, which has
ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain 25 years ago, is bitterly
divided over Mugabe's succession, with powerful figures in the party
positioning themselves for what could turn out to be a vicious fight for
power, the Crisis Group says.

"ZANU-PF is beset with factionalism,
spurred by the desire of powerful figures to position themselves for the
succession fight. The main factions substantially represent still
unreconciled ethnic interests, suggesting that holding the party together
may be difficult," the report says.

The ICG insists that the only route
with a realistic chance of resolving Zimbabwe's interlinked crises is
Mugabe's exit from office at the earliest possible time, while the
international community, ZANU-PF and the MDC should begin planning now for
the post-Mugabe era.

The Crisis Group is urging the United States, the
European Union (EU) and the international financial institutions to make it
clear there will be no end to targeted sanctions, no prospect of substantial
aid, and no resumption of normal relations unless there are real changes,
"not only in the names at the top of government structures but in
governance."

It also urges the Zimbabwean government to set a date for
the President's retirement before 2008 and to show restraint in amending the
constitution without taking opposition views into account.

For the
MDC, the Crisis Group says the party must decide fundamental questions,
including whether to pursue more confrontational and extra-parliamentary
opposition despite the risks.

The group adds that it is particularly
important for South Africa to undertake an "urgent review" of its
unsuccessful policy to explore new options such as cooperation with the
Commonwealth and the G8 countries (the United States, Canada, Japan, Russia,
Britain, France, Germany and Italy) to urge its neighbour back on the path
to more moderate political and economic policies.

"The policy of
'quiet diplomacy' has failed. The international community must act now to
ensure that a post-Mugabe Zimbabwe will not be explosive," warns Nancy
Soderberg, Crisis Group vice-president and acting director of the Africa
programme.

HARARE - Zimbabwe plans to outlaw the dissemination through
the internet of information and material it deems offensive, President
Robert Mugabe said during a ceremony to mark the opening of Parliament
boycotted by the opposition yesterday.

Mugabe said his
government, which enjoys an absolute parliamentary majority, shall also
table before the House legislation to curtail corruption and white collar
crime such as money laundering and illegal electronic transfer of money
outside Zimbabwe.

The 81-year old leader, for long accused of
standing by while military generals and cronies in his ruling ZANU PF party
loot national wealth, said: "In order to deal with the emergence of more
sophisticated forms of corruption and crimes such as electronic money
laundering, (fraudulent) electronic transfer of funds, dissemination of
offensive materials and even cyber-terrorism, the necessary legislation will
be tabled before the House during this Session."

Mugabe's
statement is the first time ever the government has publicly confirmed it
wants to monitor and control the use of the internet in
Zimbabwe.

ZimOnline broke the story last year that
Harare had sought help and equipment from China to bug into people's emails
and monitor exchange of information between both private and public
citizens.

After the government closed down newspapers and severely
clamped down on all alternative voices, Zimbabweans have had to resort to
the internet to communicate and share ideas on subjects considered
politically sensitive.

ZimOnline, available on the internet, was
specifically set up to provide a free platform for the free exchange and
sharing of ideas and information on and about Zimbabwe following the
clampdown on newspapers.

Some Zimbabwean journalists have also set
up several radio stations outside the country to beam broadcasts into the
country.

Information technology experts say neither Harare nor its
Beijing friends have the know-how to block or monitor every internet-based
communication. But ZimOnline understands the new legislation promised by
Mugabe will require internet service providers and owners of internet shops
to physically monitor people using their services and report those
communicating information deemed offensive.

Zimbabwe's sixth
Parliament is also expected to debate and pass several key legislation
including amending the constitution to bring the Senate abolished more than
10 years ago.

The House will also enact new laws liquidating the
rights of private land owners by making all farmland, except conservancies,
state property.

The controversial Non-Governmental Organisations
(NGOs) Bill, passed by the Fifth Parliament but which Mugabe refused to
sign, shall also be brought before the House.

The NGO Bill
proposes banning all civic bodies from voter education while those focusing
on governance issues will be barred from receiving foreign funding. Civic
society experts have warned that up to 90 percent of NGOs could close down
if the law is enacted.

ZANU PF won 78 of the 120 contested
parliamentary seats. The MDC won 41 while former government propaganda
chief, Jonathan Moyo, who stood as an independent, won one seat. Mugabe is
constitutionally empowered to appoint 12 unelected people to Parliament and
also appoint eight governors who also seat in the House and have voting
rights.

Another 10 seats are reserved for traditional chiefs. The
chiefs have since independence in 1980 always voted with the government and
are not expected to change their stance. This leaves Mugabe and ZANU PF able
to marshal a total 108 votes, which is more than two thirds of the
150-member House and enough for the government to pass any legislation
including amending the constitution.

Meanwhile, Justice
Minister Patrick Chinamasa accused the MDC of immaturity after the
opposition party boycotted the opening of Parliament in support of a two-day
mass job stayaway called by a coalition comprising the party, labour unions
and other civic groups.

The coalition says it called the stayaway,
which kicked off on a low note yesterday, to protest against a government
blitz against informal traders and shanty dwellers that has left thousands
of families without income or shelter.

The group bringing
together the MDC, Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions and the National
Constitutional Assembly civic alliance says the job stayaway that ends today
was also to register Zimbabweans' anger at deepening economic hardships. -
ZimOnline

Residents take eviction case to Supreme CourtFri 10 June
2005 HARARE - Residents of a squatter settlement established by the
government in the 90s have taken their fight to stop the police from
demolishing their makeshift houses to the Supreme Court in a test case that
could limit or advance the rights of homeless people in Zimbabwe.
The 54 residents, part of a group of several hundred families settled by the
government at Hatcliffe Extension on Harare's northern boundary, want
Zimbabwe's highest court to overturn a High Court ruling last week that the
Harare city and government authorities were justified in ordering police to
destroy the camp.

Heavily armed police about two weeks ago used
bulldozers and fire to destroy Hatcliffe as part of an ongoing blitz against
informal traders and homeless people which President Robert Mugabe says is
necessary to restore the beauty of Zimbabwe's cities and towns.

At least 22 000 people have been arrested during the campaign for selling
goods without licences while hundreds of thousands of poor families have
been left without shelter after their makeshift homes were razed down by the
police.

Although the Hatcliffe residents were settled at the camp
by the government which also publicly told them they could build houses at
the site, the High Court ruled against the families saying they had breached
council by-laws after they failed to submit plans to and seeking formal
approval from Town House.

In throwing out the residents'
application, the court also said that public policy considerations were far
more important than the interests of a few individuals.

In
their application lodged with the Supreme Court, the Hatcliffe group,
represented by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), argues: "The
High Court erred in finding that the public policy considerations far
outweighed the interests of a few individuals.

"In this regard
it desisted from taking into consideration the submissions of counsel with
regard to the principles of proportionality, suitability and necessity of
the conduct of respondents."

They also argue that the High Court,
which is the upper guardian of all minors at law, erred when it did not use
its discretion to protect the rights of hundreds of children at the camp who
no longer have shelter, health facilities and are unable to go to school
since the squatter camp was destroyed.

The court should have
taken into account whether alternative accommodation was provided before
upholding the government and city council's decision to destroy the camp,
the appellants argue.

No date has been set yet for the hearing of
the matter.

Meanwhile, the police yesterday threatened to take the
blitz against illegal structures and informal rading markets into more
affluent suburbs where many top government officials and their relatives
live.

The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change party -
which together with labour unions and civic bodies called a mass job boycott
yesterday and today to protest the government's clean-up operation - says
the campaign is meant to punish urban residents for rejecting Mugabe and his
ZANU PF party in a disputed general election two months ago. -
ZimOnline

The human rights group, the Center on Housing Rights and
Evictions (COHRE) says Zimbabwe's mass evictions campaign could amount to a
crime against humanity.

The group adds that the pattern of violations
in Zimbabwe's mass eviction campaign horrendous and undeniable. It says the
government of Robert Mugabe is in flagrant breach of the right to housing
enshrined in several international human rights conventions ratified by
Zimbabwe.

COHRE's Deputy Director, Jean du Plessis, says the continued
demolition of slum dwellings may constitute a crime against humanity. He
notes the statute of the International Criminal Court clearly prohibits the
deportation and forcible transfer of populations under certain
conditions.

"Even if a case could have been made that these communities
are living illegally and they should not be there and in terms of national
law they need to be removed, the procedures followed at the most basic level
are totally incorrect and unjust," he said. "In terms of no advance notice
given, no alternatives being considered for where people are going to stay
and simply breaking down peoples' houses. And, this is internationally
recognized as the way not to do it."

Since the campaign started three
weeks ago, COHRE estimates more than 200,000 people have been forcibly and
brutally evicted from their homes. More than 22,000 people have been
arrested for so-called illegal trading.

It says thousands of homeless
people, many of them children, are forced to sleep on the streets in
bitterly cold weather. It notes winter temperatures have dropped to below
five degrees celsius at night.

The government of Zimbabwe says Operation
Restore Order, as it is called, is necessary to prevent illegal trading in
commodities and foreign currency.

Mr. du Plessis notes Zimbabwe's economy
is in crisis, with 70 percent of the population out of work. He says the
informal economy is the only way poor people can survive. He says President
Mugabe's eviction campaign has deprived these people of their only remaining
sources of income and shelter.

"If you then take a community that has
organized itself to survive and you take away their housing and you destroy
the place where they stay and where they are secure and their networks, you
set them back by a very long period," he said. "They have to redo all of
that again in order to survive. So, we have absolutely no doubt that people
are going to die. Many people are going to die as a consequence of these
particular evictions."

COHRE has sent an urgent letter to President
Mugabe and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Among its requests, the
organization calls on the government to stop the evictions, to provide
emergency relief supplies to those displaced and to provide alternative and
adequate accommodation to those who have been made homeless.

ZIMBABWE is soon to
establish an Irrigation Development Authority (IDA) to exploit the country's
vast water reserves for irrigation and mitigate persistent droughts,
President Robert Mugabe said yesterday.Officially opening the first session
of the Sixth Parliament, President Mugabe said IDA would superintend a
programme to develop 595 645 hectares of identified irrigable land
consisting of 277 978 hectares under existing dams and 18 165 on farm
dams."A further 299 502 hectares will be developed on dams under
construction," the Head of State said.In fulfilling the State
undertaking, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) had since availed $1
trillion for rehabilitation of the country's irrigation network under the
central bank's $5 trillion Agricultural Sector Revival Fund.Farmers
would access the funds at concessionary interest rates of between 5 and 20
percent."To stimulate development of the horticultural sector, the country's
third largest agricultural foreign currency earner after tobacco and cotton,
a Bill for the establishment of a Horticultural Production Authority (HPA)
shall be tabled in this august house," President Mugabe added.Further,
he said, micro-level community based projects such as dip tanks, nutritional
gardens, small irrigation schemes, and access roads would be undertaken
through a Rural Development Fund in support of the country's agrarian
reforms."With the broader aims of the land reform programme now fulfilled,
government is correcting residual irregularities thereof and addressing the
issue of properties falling under Bilateral Investment Protection Agreement
(BIPA)," President Mugabe said.He said the government would soon
establish an independent National Incomes and Pricing Commission to
coordinate the harmonisation of incomes and pricing issues and advice the
State intermittently.Turning to both internal and external investment,
President Mugabe said the government this year is geared for investment and
development.He said an Investment Authority Bill, which seeks to merge the
Zimbabwe Investment Centre and the Export Processing Zones Authority to
become the Zimbabwe Investment Authority would be tabled in
parliament."Negotiations aimed at improving the flow of Zimbabwe's exports
to countries in the region and the Far East will continue. At the
multi-lateral level, the government will use the platform of the Africa,
Caribbean, Pacific-European Union (ACP-EU) cooperation framework to
negotiate the establishment of new trading arrangements with the European
Union by 2008," the President added.In order to realise the envisioned
levels of development, President Mugabe said there was need to unlock the
potential of the energy and power sector.To this end, he added, several
initiatives - to attract investors in the development of both existing and
new power generation projects as well as alternative forms of energy - were
being pursued especially within the context of the 'Look East'
policy."Indeed, the search for such alternative energy sources as the
extraction of liquid fuel from coal and the exploitation of coalbed methane
should assume greater seriousness."The Petroleum Bill, which seeks to
establish a legal framework for the effective exploitation and regulation of
the petroleum sub-sector, shall be brought up for consideration during the
session," the president said.He bemoaned the decline in quality service
provision of local government authorities, and vowed that the government
would press ahead with its current clean up operation in cities and
towns."The general state of infrastructure and level of capitalisation in
all local authorities require the urgent attention of all stakeholders.More
immediately, government has, in liaison with municipal authorities,
instituted a vigorous clean-up campaign to restore sanity and order in urban
and other areas."Amendments to the Urban Councils Act, the Rural
District Councils Act and the Provincial Councils and Administration Act,
shall be tabled in the House to help address some of the problems afflicting
this sector," President Mugabe added.He said the government remained
committed to the development of small and medium scale enterprises, albeit
in an orderly manner.The current chaotic state of affairs, President Mugabe
added, where SMEs operated outside the regulatory framework and in
undesignated and crime-ridden areas could not be countenanced for much
longer."In tandem with the on-going clean-up campaign, government is in the
process of reorganising the sector's operations, a process which will
include the provision of essential and dignified infrastructure, vendor
marts, technical and management skills training, and clustering the
enterprises in designated areas. These and other regulatory measures
will boost the vertical and horizontal integration so crucial to the
sector's competitiveness," the President said.In this session, Parliament is
expected to also debate the Empowerment Bill, the Education Amendment Bill,
the Labour Relations Amendment Bill, the Attorney General's Office Bill and
the Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection of Victims) Bill.Soon
after the house's official opening, Parliament was adjourned to June 21
2005.

Zims march in DallasBY ANDREW MANYEVERETEXAS -
Members of the Zimbabwe Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in Texas and
many other supportive democratic organizations this week mounted a protest
procession in to North Dallas district office to hand a petition to a
representative of Congressman JEB Hensarling.The ruling party of Robert
Mugabe has been in power for the last 25 years through rigging of the
elections. A week ago, houses built by the poor after having been granted
permits by Mugabe's government, have been burnt to ashes by police and
military personnel.

We stand in protest against this and many other
oppressive acts perpetrated by the regime since coming to power. Life in
Zimbabwe is on the brink of total collapse.

The regime does not
accept the people's voice through the electoral processes. It does not
tolerate opposition political parties. It does not allow freedom of
expression. We walk in protest and in solidarity with country folk who are
now reduced to a level of animals by Mugabe and his cronies.

We call
on the international community to put pressure on this dictatorship; to
facilitate a democratic election when people can participate without fear of
punishment, torture, denial of food or any other type of harassment.

We
urge President George Bush to by-pass people like Thabo Mbeki of South
Africa and address the SADC community with hard facts of their inept
political will to deal with the massive problem of refugees in their states
and the disintegration of economic progress. The world stands to lose
through ignoring such acts of barbarism taking place under its very
nose.

Please help us save SWRadio AfricaBY VIOLET GONDA
& TERERAI KARIMAKWENDALONDON - The situation facing SWRadio Africa is
deeper than it appears on the surface. It has ramifications for freedom of
the press not only in Zimbabwe, but also in the region and the continent at
large.African leaders, led by Thabo Mbeki, have been selling democracy, good
governance and respect for human rights to the international community as a
basis for investing in Africa. If they do not censure leaders like Robert
Mugabe and insist on every country respecting democratic principles,
including freedom of the press, they should be isolated and made an example
of what bad governance is about.

Mugabe has extended his evil
tentacles beyond his borders by creating a newspaper with Namibia's
cooperation late last year and, more recently, it's reported that a new
internet radio station in the United States is promoting his agenda. He is
also reportedly planning to open a radio station and an edition of The
Herald in South Africa to force his propaganda on the millions who have fled
from his abuses back home.

Yet SWRadio Africa has been denied a platform
by neighbouring countries who say we cannot beam our signal from within
their territories because they deem it politically incorrect to speak
against their brother - even though it would be the right thing to
do.

On a personal level, we speak to Zimbabweans on a daily basis and
hear tragic stories from individuals who are only too glad to be able to
share their suffering with anyone prepared to listen. Zimbabweans have never
enjoyed freedom of expression. We went straight from the oppressive Ian
Smith regime into the arms of our even more oppressive brother -
Mugabe.

Donors who gave Zimbabweans the opportunity to address the rest
of the world through radio stations like ours had the right idea. But now,
when the "shit has hit the fan" and they are needed most, they are turning
their backs due to "fatigue". Imagine how tired Zimbabweans are, who are not
eating, who are sleeping outside and spending days on end in queues for just
about anything - from food to fuel.

The country is burning and this
is its deepest hour of need. Where is the rest of the world now? A station
that gives a voice to the voiceless is the ideal project for those
organisations that promote global democracy. We challenge them to put their
money where their mouths are. Mugabe is certainly investing in what he
believes in. And the voices of reason can defeat him with very little
effort.

A woman committed suicide in Gweru this week after two shops she
had slaved to open were razed to the ground. If her story stays does not
reach the rest of the world then Mugabe has won. This cannot be allowed to
happen. The time for dictators is over. We appeal to pro-democracy groups to
SAVE SW Radio Africa on behalf of the suffering people Zimbabwe. Gonda and
Karimakwenda are reporters with SWRadio.www.swradioafrica.com

Parallels between 80s and presentThis excerpt from the
Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe report on violence and
human rights violations in the 1980s could have been written this week! The
parallels are as uncanny as they are tragic. Lest we forget."Peace is
not the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice" - Martin Luther
King

This report is not just a history. It tells the story of continued
suffering for thousands of people. It may appear on the surface that there
is peace in Zimbabwe and that people have forgotten and forgiven the past
but people still feel deep-rooted fear, anger, and distrust.

Their
wounds have not healed: indeed they are festering and need to be
acknowledged and cured if peace is to be guaranteed in the future.

To
allow this process, the report makes the following recommendations:

1.
National acknowledgement

We need the truth of what happened to be
revealed, so that reconciliation can begin. There are large numbers of
Zimbabweans who have no idea of what happened in the western part of the
country, while they were enjoying the early fruits of Independence. We
therefore recommend that this report be published and be made available to
the public; the Chihambakwe Commission report be made available to the
public and that the Government appoints a fact-finding committee if it
disputes the truth of this report.

2. Human rights violators

All
those who committed human rights violations are immune from prosecution
because of the amnesty of 1988. However, we recommend that known human
rights violators should be removed from positions of authority which may
enable them to violate human rights again in the future.

3. Legal
amendments

There are currently no legal mechanisms through which those
who suffered from damage in the 1980s can claim compensation. The victims of
the 1980s are therefore in a different position to those of the 1970s, who
can claim through the War Victims Compensation Act. However, the Government
undertook in its report to the United Nations in 1996 that it would pay
compensation to families of persons who disappeared during the 1980s, but
has yet to do so. We therefore recommend that the Government should devise
mechanisms to process claims by victims; that the War Victims Compensation
Act should be amended to include those who suffered during the 1980s; that
there should be an inquiry into the Births and Deaths Act to find a policy
making it easier to register births and deaths for those families affected
by the disturbances; that the Government should amend the Agricultural
Finance Corporation Act to cancel debts incurred by farmers during the years
of disturbance, where it can be shown that such debts were the result of
human rights violations which occurred before December 22, 1987.

4.
Human remains

Communities need to be consulted to find out what their
wishes are in respect to this issue. We therefore recommend that a neutral
team of anthropologists and psychologists conduct research to determine the
desires of communities affected by such graves and human remains and that
Government undertakes to protect such grave sites pending the outcome of
this research

5. Health

Entire communities have suffered and are
still suffering severe psychological trauma. Psychological healing is an
essential component of reconciliation. We therefore recommend that
Government and donors provide the necessary financial and logistic support
to enable professional teams of counsellors/psychologists/health
practitioners to work in affected areas.

6. Communal
reparation

Reconciliation / Uxolelwano TrustIndividual compensation
for everyone is now an impossible task, although some could be eligible if
certain laws were altered as recommended above. Government cannot afford to
compensate all individually. In any case, entire communities were targeted
and entire communities could begin healing if Government acknowledged their
role in the suffering. Reparation to whole communities could take the form
of development in strategic areas. We recommend that a trust be formed
called the "Reconciliation/ Uxoleiwano Trust" to facilitate the process of
communal reparation.

7. Constitutional safe-guards

Zimbabweans
need guarantees that human rights violations on such a massive scale can
never take place again. Citizens of Zimbabwe and the Government begin a
debate to consider what safeguards we need to add to the constitution to
prevent human rights violations ever occurring again.

8. The
future

This report is a starting point in what should become a serious
debate surrounding what happened in Zimbabwe in the 1980s. This will require
sensitivity and restraint from all parties concerned. We therefore recommend
that Government, universities, churches, non-Governmental organisations and
others do not make inflammatory comments and instead promote sensible
dialogue among all Zimbabweans.

Next week - we look at events that
have taken place since the report was published.

LONDON - ZIMBABWEANS in the Diaspora should not be armchair
critics of the deteriorating situation in their country, nor cry-babies - a
meeting held in London at the weekend was told.Addressing nearly 300
people at the Open Forum 2005 on Zimbabwe, South Africa and the Region
speakers implored the largely Zimbabwean crowd to use whatever media they
possibly could to blow away the smokescreen that criticism of the Mugabe
regime was "imperialist" or "colonial".

Citing The Zimbabwean as "useful
weapon" speakers and members of the audience urged people to create and
maintain a stong and united front in the face of the Zanu (PF)'s atrocities
against the people of Zimbabwe.

Prominent Zimbabwean human rights lawyer,
Gugulethu Moyo, chaired the first panel on human rights instruments as tools
for civil society while Shula Marks, Emeritus Professor, SOAS, chaired the
second panel, which sought to draw an anti-imperialist framework for
understanding Zimbabwe.

The African Regional human rights system, for
long criticised for its failure to respond effectively to gross human rights
violations by States parties to the African Charter, came under the
spotlight. One speaker bemoaned the fact that the African Commission on
Human and People's Rights' decisions were not legally binding but
recommendations with which member states rarely complied.

Gabriel
Shumba, a Zimbabwean lawyer now living in exile in South Africa, called the
system "a useless club of dictators" but believed there was value in
bringing cases before it for advocacy and lobby purposes. "The world will
know of the evils happening in Zimbabwe", he said.

The so-called
"Operation Restore Order" had left an estimated 200 000 people homeless and
with no source of income - a clear violation of Zimbabwe's obligations under
the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR),
said Shumba.

Ahmed Motala, a South African lawyer and human rights
activist, observed: "the violation of socio-economic rights by the
government of Zimbabwe deserves attention. Zimbabwean civics should bring
cases of this nature before the African human rights system."

Brian
Raftopoulos, a renowned Zimbabwean academic and human rights activist said
"Operation Restore Order" was both an attack of the source base of the
political opposition and the breaking of the urban source of critique of the
authoritarian rule.

He argued that the Zimbabwean government would
remain in power, oppressing the nation, until civic society built new
democratic solidarities and adopted an anti-imperialist strategy that did
not border on essentialism but dealt with rights at both national and
international levels.

"At the heart of Mugabe's offensive against the
array of forces opposed to his rule are repeated attempts to place the
Zimbabwe problem at the centre of a larger anti-imperialist and Pan-African
position," he said.

Elinor Sisulu, of Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition's
South Africa desk, agreed. She called for the demystification of the
liberation struggle saying it was time people stopped idolising African
leaders. "If the democratic movement in Zimbabwe wants to make any headway
in breaking the Mugabe regime's ideological stranglehold within the region,
it has to highlight the appropriation of an anti-imperialist discourse to
serve narrow political interests. It has to invoke African instruments such
as the Constitutive Act of the African Union and the African Charter for
Human and People's Rights", she said.

Wilf Mbanga, the publisher and
editor of The Zimbabwean, lamented the closure of media space in Zimbabwe.
He dismissed claims that Zimbabwe was under economic sanctions as "a figment
of Zanu (PF)'s imagination" and called for a vigorous stand against Mugabe's
monopolisation of the anti-imperialist banner.

Among the audience
were people who felt the discussion should have been placed in the context
of violations of human rights by the US, while one participant from the DRC
expressed disappointment that none of the speakers had talked about his
country - where he said more lives had been and continued to be lost in
comparison with Zimbabwe.

Govt targets private educationBY TIGER
MOONJOHANNESBURG - I got a wonderful email from an old friend today, which
had me doing flick flacks (ok, not REAL ones!) in my flat. She said she had
seen a bit of the world, saved up some pounds and was returning home to get
on with her life. This is not the first of my South African friends who have
come home after doing time overseas - but it is significant for me because I
am a Zimbabwean and I can't see myself going home anytime soon, if
ever.Travel broadens the mind and swells the coffers somewhat (for us
Southern Africans in general and especially for us third - or should that be
fifth world? - residents from Zimbabwe. Just look at how many Zimbos in the
diaspora are keeping folk back home alive- when packages and money reach
them courtesy of the Department of Customs and Excise that is!

And
yet it was not always this way - even I can remember a time when the
Zimbabwe dollar was on a par with the Rand and competitive with both the US$
and the Pound.

Reserve Bank Governor, Gideon Gono announced sweeping
changes in monetary policy in Zimbabwe recently, which economists,
businessmen and the few intelligentsia left in Zimbabwe have been
recommending for years. Perhaps the penny has finally dropped among our
great leaders? Or is this a case of desperate times call for desperate
measures? (I mean, if Bob can admit to mass starvation and ask for food aid
from the UN, albeit secretly, who knows what other possibilities exist?) One
can only live in hope!

On a rather less hopeful note, it seems our
illustrious government is targeting private education again. Sadly, the big
chiefs in the party are able to afford to send their children to private
schools and Universities in the UK, USA and South Africa, while honest and
hard-working citizens are being forced to leave the country so that they can
educate their children in a free world!

Saddest of all is the
destruction of one of Africa's best education systems and the displacement
of one of the most highly qualified and effective teaching staff, as well as
gifted young Zimbabweans who will be lost to our sporting, cultural, social
and economic future as a nation.

On a more personal note, I am happy to
report that the weather in Joburg has been very kind and I haven't had to
turn up at work wrapped in my duvet yet. (Should this become necessary, I
will do it!)

There have been some interesting articles on global warming
and climate changes in Southern Africa recently (a geography teacher's
delight I am sure!) which may go a long way to explaining this weather
phenomenon.

I always try to impress a certain learned gentleman I know
well, who read Latin at school (and deems this fact sufficient proof that he
had a superior education!) with my knowledge, wide range of topics read and
general intelligence, thus I leave you with a Latin phrase dedicated to ALL
Zimbabweans and friends of Zimbabwe- "SPERO MELIORA". I hope for better
things.

Fight poverty, not the poorHARARE - Ministers who
ignore the law and court decisions when it suits them and vote for laws in
Parliament that any fair-minded Supreme Court would declare unconstitutional
(Public Order and Security Act, Access to Information and Protection of
Privacy Act) insist that the law must be obeyed absolutely even if it
deprives people of shelter and endangers their health, both basic human
rights.Mbare and other high-density townships look like battle fields:
heavily-armed riot police and soldiers fighting unarmed civilians, the
unemployed, the elderly, women and children.

Let us get this clear:
no human-made law must be obeyed at all costs.

The law is made for
people, and must serve their common good; the people are not made for the
law and to be sacrificed for it. ("The Sabbath was made for man, not man for
the Sabbath" Mark 2: 27. Jesus "looked around at them with anger" when his
opponents refused to acknowledge this).

Nobody likes slums. "Housing for
all" was the great promise of the 1990s. It is the great failure of most
Third World economies that they do not provide housing for low income
families (but western countries have their homeless people
too!).

There is no profit in building homes for poor families. Zimbabwe
never provided "housing for all" because you do not get rich quick building
low cost houses. Which would require massive state subsidies provided by a
well-functioning, productive economy. Which Zimbabwe hasn't got.

Now
someone has to take the blame for this failure. So they blame illegal
currency dealers, hoarders and unlicensed traders. But prosperity will not
rise out of the rubble left by the riot police, only even greater misery. In
Touch - Jesuit Communications.

Imagining all the people.BY MWANA WEVHULONDON -
Every time I sit down to write this column, I try my to think of something
hopeful and uplifting to say about the outlook for my fellow Zimbabweans -
but each week brings another dreadful downturn in the fortunes of all but
the fat cats of the ruling party.This week I am so angry, so disgusted, so
sick with the hopelessness of it all, and so filled with compassion for what
is happening to a beloved people that I am positively 'all shook up' and can
hardly put words together.

I close my eyes and try to imagine what it
must be like to have been driven on to the roadside from Churu Farm, all
those years ago when the Rev. Ndabaningi Sithole was slapped down for
opening up plots of land to encourage support from urban, landless people.
'Illegal' was the excuse given by the authorities. What hypocrisy! Illegal
to distribute land to the landless! Funny how 'illegal' distribution of land
suddenly became okay when the ruling party was doing it.

Porta Farm,
on the outskirts of Harare was the first reprieve, but a 'temporary'
settlement made up of plastic sheets, rough logs, stones and tin shacks for
those victims of political spite soon grew out of control and became an
eyesore. Bulldoze it down! Then, miraculously, there came new hopes for a
better life.

A sincere effort was made by local authorities to house
people with a semblance of decency in wooden cabins in the new Hatcliffe
extension on the Borrowdale Road, within walking distance of the plush Sam
Levy village. The people who joined a housing co-operative unwittingly put
their small savings into the pockets of thieves but still have a roof over
their heads. If you were originally a Churu farm victim, relief was
short-lived; you faced new obstacles: impossible price rises, the
deterioration of services, the absence of means of transport and unbearable
job losses as the economy spiralled downwards.

And now, two months
after a general election, you are sitting out in the cold night air, your
pots and pans, your bedding and few possessions piled around you.

You
don't know what you have done wrong. If you supported the ruling party or
the opposition in the elections, it made no difference. You voted peacefully
and as an elder, you don't want another war; you are still carrying the
memory of the dreadful violence of the liberation war years when your rural
family was hounded by both the Rhodesian forces and the guerrilla
insurgents. This year of 2005, you were allowed to attend opposition
rallies, even getting the protection of the police. Democracy beckoned. But
it was all a bluff. You are a powerless piece of human junk. The police have
kicked you out and destroyed your shelter. You are homeless.

You light a
little fire after gathering a few twigs and some chips from broken boxes and
you huddle on the ground with your family, your blankets held tightly around
your shoulders. Children and grandchildren are hungry and crying in the cold
night air. You see the look of utter desperation on the beautiful faces,
golden brown in the flickering firelight, and your heart wants to burst with
sorrow and pain.

You look up at a cloudy sky and see a quiet silver moon
misted and then clearly visible as a soft breath of wind moves the heavens
along. A bright star appears. Is this what you were once told was a
wonderful sign, a sign of the coming of a great God who would bring joy to
all mankind? You are swaying a little and your eyes are closing with
weariness. You are tired of this world, which is still waiting for joy, and
you begin to wish you were dead.

I can't go on. Please tell me Mr
President, Mr John Nkomo, Mr Msika, Mr Mutasa, Mrs Mujuru and all the rest
of you - is this really what you wanted for your fellow Zimbabweans? Is this
what you call liberation from your old oppressors?

When you drift off
to sleep in your comfortable bed at night and think of how rich you have
become, how pleased you are to be out of prison and exile, out of the
privations you suffered in a bush war, do your spare a thought for the poor
souls, your own brothers and sisters whom you have tortured, harassed and
made homeless these past weeks? Better not think. You might get that cold,
uncomfortable feeling that they are beginning to wish that you, the cause of
all their suffering, were dead.

Who is my neighbour?HARARE - 'I have given up on this
generation . I have given up on the people who were my friends, with whom I
played basketball. It seems that they will never reckon with what they have
done. But what I want is for their children to have a chance to make up
their own minds. I want them to know and think about what happened, and
learn from it.'Rwanda? Ivory Coast? Sudan? Actually, Bosnia. But it could
have been any of them. And it could be Zimbabwe too. It expresses the utter
helplessness and frustration of people who have been victims of overwhelming
force and who yet do not give up, but look to the future. The speaker was
Emir Suljagic, a Bosnian Muslim who survived the massacre of his people in
Srebrenica ten years ago. But he could have been anyone of the countless
victims in countries like our own where the government uses violence against
its own people.

We come once again to the age-old question. 'Who is
my neighbour?' A simple harmless question? It is one that humanity refuses
to face up to. The priest and the Levite in the story (Luke 10: 25-37) have
a briefcase full of reasons why they can't help. They are rushing to a
meeting. It's not their job to look after such people. The victim could be a
bait to trap a passer by and rob them too. Anyway, it is probably the
victim's own fault. He is probably a totem-less vagrant and not one of
us.

The Samaritan just sees a human being in need. He is moved. The Greek
word is esplanchnisthe, which means his whole insides turned over in
compassion for the suffering person, so much so that he overcomes all the
prejudices he has inherited, all the baggage of history he has heard from
his elders, all the fears that he could have listened to and acted
on.

It is an amazing story of breakthrough. It represents a huge step
forward for humanity. But the story of the Good Samaritan remains the
best-known gospel story precisely because it is so shocking, so attainable
and yet at the same time so unattainable.

We are still dazed by the
cruelty of our government in Zimbabwe who 'make war on the poor instead of
on poverty.' People are very angry and many are in tears. They cannot
believe that a government could do this and go on doing it when they see the
suffering it causes.

We continue to hope for a 'breakthrough' and this
keeps us going. We wonder if we will ever see it from the tired old faces
that haunt our screens? Perhaps we too have to give up on this generation
and look to the young.

"People shouldn't live in shacks"Didymus Mutasa, the
minister in charge of the secret police, recently told the BBC in an
interview that "our people shouldn't live in shacks in modern-day Zimbabwe".
We agree with him!However, we strongly disagree with the "solution" adopted
by Mutasa and the Zanu (PF) government. The widespread destruction of
"their" people's shacks with absolutely no thought or provision of
alternative accommodation is nothing short of criminal.

Where
something is not adequate, the approach should surely be to build and
develop and improve on the basis that exists. Not simply to destroy it
all.

The latest orgy of destruction in Zimbabwe brings into sharp focus
the Zanu (PF) penchant for destruction. This government has a history of
destroying things. It has destroyed an entire economy, a once-proud nation,
the future of millions.

The tragedy is that the basic premise from
which the government is operating is correct. Yes the economy needed to be
indigenised. Yes a transfer of wealth, technology, land, expertise and
everything else was necessary -given our colonial heritage.

But the
way in which those in power have gone about righting the imbalances of the
past has made a complete mockery of majority rule and brought the dignity
and sovereignty of Zimbabwe into disrepute.

By becoming the most vicious,
true-life caricatures of greedy and inhuman African despots, Mugabe and his
cronies have shamed us all. Everything they have touched has turned to
ashes.

The government's cruelty to the people they purport to care about
has been mind-boggling. Not only are our rulers bankrupt of ideas on how to
solve Zimbabwe's problems, but they have shown themselves cruel almost
beyond belief.

They continue to deny people food, and instead are
buying arms of war with which to suppress their citizens. We say: food
before bullets.

Why do our neighbours comply?An extremely disturbing
development is the way some SADC countries are colluding with the Mugabe
regime to break the international arms embargo.ews reports from Pretoria
this week indicated that Armscor had sold spare parts worth R1m to the
Zimbabwean government and that the South African government had donated
equipment to the value of more than R3m to enable Zimbabwe to get its fleet
of Alouette helicopters in the air again.

Malawi recently bought tear gas
from the British worth half a million pounds. This has sent alarm bells
ringing in the UK - Malawi is a country at peace, with no rioting populace.
Why on earth would they need such quantities of tear gas? The obvious
deduction is that it is being sold on to Zimbabwe.

We condemn this
complicity by our neighbours in the suppression of the people of Zimbabwe.
It is particularly despicable given the latest rampage by government forces
in the cities.

WOZA joins call for actionLast week WOZA, Women of
Zimbabwe Arise, issued a call to Zimbabweans in the diaspora to organize
protests outside their Zimbabwean Embassies on 18th June to highlight the
plight of their kith and kin back home and to mark World Refugee Day. `We
are refugees in our own land` say the women, many of them street vendors,
and following the destruction of homes in urban areas of Zimbabwe over the
last few weeks their words ring truer than ever.WOZA is a cross party civic
group in Zimbabwe formed to lobby on bread and butter issues affecting women
and their families. Since 2003 they have put up a constant protest against
injustice and eroded rights, knowingly exposing themselves to beatings,
imprisonment and worse. They don`t miss an opportunity to put their case:
Valentine`s Day, Mother`s Day, International Women`s Day and this year they
were the first to take to the streets in the aftermath of the elections. One
hundred and forty eight were arrested and beaten but they have not given up.
The choice is now simple`, the WOZA women say `Mass Action or Mass
Starvation`.

While the brave WOZA women in Zimbabwe risk imprisonment and
beatings to make a stand for all our rights, we in the UK need only to
sacrifice a Saturday afternoon and the cost of a ticket into central London.
Members of the WOZA Solidarity group will be joining the Vigil outside the
Embassy at 429 the Strand from 2pm on Saturday 18th to show their solidarity
with WOZA . All genders are welcome at the London event and organisers hope
to see a large and lively crowd so that a strong message of support can be
sent to our sisters back home.

Zim's lost son - Christopher GiwaBY DIANA
MITCHELLWhen Christopher Giwa asked most courteously for an apology for an
undeserved insult to a white Zimbabwean, fellow Forum Party member, David
Coltart, and unexpectedly received one, there followed some excited speeches
from the floor.People were keen to see this well-organized attempt at
mounting a respectable and respected opposition to the one-party-state-ism
that had a grip on the country. We were a little wary of trustee, Ernest
Bulle. Was he a 'plant'? He had thrown money about, providing the liquid
refreshment - crates of beers, for an early celebration, trays of
sandwiches, transportation.

He talked grandly of 'millions' that were
just waiting out there to be accessed by the new Party. But when he was not
elected to the prime position of party Treasurer, he left. He stormed off.
Because he had shouted abuse at us, saying he was "taking his boys out of
the Forum Trust" we threw him out of the steering committee. He clearly
could not control his temper. His judges on the steering committee were in
wonderful solidarity, a mix of whites, old and young, and aspiring black
democrats, both old and recently emerged.

Over the weekend when
Christopher died, there was no news of the 'accident' that had killed him.
On Friday night, I chanced to see a ZTV news interview, given in the glare
of an army truck's headlights, with a soldier. There was a white estate car
in the picture, its hood twisted upwards and some damage to its left fender
clearly visible. The camera panned to an army vehicle tilted over in the
ditch.

The soldier was saying, "Unfortunately, the pump in our engine
broke down and we stopped in the road. This car, in which the passenger
died, was blinded by an oncoming car and it hit our vehicle". I imagined
that this was yet another tragic 'accident', a fairly common event at the
hands of army drivers. I thought it distinctly odd that an estate car had
hit an army vehicle and suffered so little damage in the process. Also odd
was the presence of television cameras - a rare phenomenon at the scene of
night-time road accidents. There was no mention of the name of the
victim.

On Monday, Chris Giwa's photo appeared in the Herald with a brief
report of the death in a road accident of a former leader of the University
of Zimbabwe's SRC. This was the accident I had seen on television.

A
shock - and all the questions came back: Why TV cameras? Why the delayed
announcement? Why so little damage to the car? More questions came after the
funeral. Even before that. In the car driven to the funeral by Eddie
Monteiro with Alois Masepe and with the late Marsipula Sithole traveling to
Ruwa as mourners, I raved noisily, uninhibitedly about my suspicions.
Sithole, beside me in the back seat, rolled his eyes and put his finger to
his lips.

More questions after the funeral: What about Chris's
driver? I heard that Chris's parents had tracked him down to Marondera
hospital. He was in bed, unmarked by the crash. Why did he refuse to speak
to the parents when he heard who they were and why was this man a different
driver from the trusted one who had set off with Chris in the
morning.

Why were there red floor polish marks on the back of Chris's
shoes, evidence, it seems, of his having been dragged along a polished
floor? Why did the policeman who attended the crash, hand over blood-soaked
bank notes? "From the pocket of the deceased," he said. There was no blood
on the pocket, a family member noticed. Why was no family representative
invited to the correct court to attend an autopsy?

And finally, why
was Chris, the victim of a crash - which appeared to have pitched him on to
the floor of the front seat - not wearing a safety belt? And why was his
face uninjured? I once saw the face of a man who hit the windscreen in a car
crash. It was bloated and terribly bruised.

And now, burned into my
memory forever, is the unmarked face of Christopher Giwa, forever at peace.
His prophetic words echo in my mind: "We shall have no future unless we are
prepared to stand up against this violent regime." For him, this prophesy
was tragically and violently fulfilled.

Things fall apart - now what?A collection of
quotations about the horrific events in Harare and Bulawayo during the past
few weeks:"Our nation is falling apart. The bonds that used to hold us
together are cracking. The gulf between those with a vision to see a new
beginning and those keen to maintain the status quo is widening every day.
We must avoid pushing the people to a position where the only fall back
position requires the adoption of extreme measures to restore direction,
protection and order. We must maintain civility and reason." Morgan
Tsvangirai, President, MDC.

"As a progressive party, we always look for
ways which make the party move ahead and rule effectively. If the Senate can
make the people of Zimbabwe happier or better off, it shall be there. We are
the people's party, we do what makes them happy." Zanu (PF) spokesman Nathan
Shamuyarira.

"When will sanity prevail? Where is the outside world? Busy
talking about a "NO vote by France". How can the "little ones of this world
be brutalized in this way" - their only crime - they are poor, they are
helpless and they happen to live in the wrong part of town and in a country
that does not have oil and is not very important to the West. One bystander
told me that he had phoned the Red Cross asking for help but was informed
"it is not a war situation" so there is nothing we can do!"- Patricia Walsh
OP.

"As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both
instances there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged.
And it is in such twilight that we all must be most aware of change in the
air - however slight - lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness."
-- Supreme court justice William O. Douglas

"The UN agencies
operating in Zimbabwe should report to the UN, to the Security Council, at
once. It will be a criminal act of complicity and appeasement if we do not
now require the African Union and, in particular, Thabo Mbeki and the UN, to
refuse utterly to deal with Mugabe without an immediate end to these
appalling acts of violence against his own people. Any food aid given now
must not be used as a political tool. There must be no more quiet diplomacy
designed to protect a tyrant rather than his innocent people. Not to protest
publicly in the strongest terms through the UN and the EU will be to make
the Commission for Africa mockery." - BARONESS PARK OF MONMOUTH, RT HON LORD
CARRINGTON, RT HON LORD STEEL OF AIKWOOD, LORD AVEBURY, KATE HOEY MP in a
letter to The Independent, London.

"The attitude of the members of the
public as well as some city officials has led to the point whereby Harare
has lost its glow. We are determined to get it back. Operation Marambatsvina
will see the demolition of all illegal structures." said
government-appointed Mayor Sekesai Makwavara.

"Zanu (PF) are trying to
remake the city in their image by trying to drive people out, depriving them
of their livelihoods and homes, back to the communal areas where the ruling
party is better able to control social unrest. There is very little we can
do. The country is in the grip of a dictatorship. A clique has seized the
state through lawlessness, and this rogue regime doesn't give a damn for
legal niceties," Michael Davies, chairman, Combined Harare Residents
Association.

"I went out to Hatcliffe Extension this morning. It is like
a bombsite! People are sitting beside their worldly belongings, some still
trying to take down their shacks before the police get to them - everyone is
looking dazed. The ZRP officer commanding told me proudly there are 3000
police in there, so no wonder the people don't fight back! Those without a
place to go in Harare will be shipped out to a farm beyond Tafara (Caledon?)
but no-one can take their cabin panels, bricks etc - and the police don't
know if there is any accommodation at the farm - I doubt it!! Disaster - and
this is a proper site and service scheme, and people had paid 300 000 per
stand last year for their lease documents, they were legally there!" - Trudy
Stevenson, MDC MP.

"I have heard that police and army units have been
engaged in demolishing not only the stalls of street traders, licensed as
well as unlicensed, but also legally as well as illegally built homes in
several districts of Harare. According to my information, thousands of
people have been made homeless and many more have lost their means of
supporting themselves and their families. I wish to protest most strongly
against these measures in the interest of the citizens of our twin city, who
had already enough to put up with because of the economic
situation.

"As a long-serving Mayor of a state capital with a population
of over a million I am fully aware that the maintenance of security and
order as well as the compliance with legal regulations are of importance to
the administration of a big city. I would therefore ask you in the interest
of Munich's twin city to do your utmost to prevent further demolition
measures as long as the people concerned are not offered alternative
accommodation, to provide food and shelter for those who have already been
made homeless and as soon as possible, to designate places where traders can
pursue their efforts to provide for themselves and their families." - Letter
from Hep Monatzeder, Mayor of the City of Munich, to David Karimanzira, the
provincial Governor Harare Metropolitan Province.

"The attack on the
urban population is part of a broad strategy to destabilise specific
constituencies and to distort the voting patterns of Zimbabweans in favour
of Zanu PF. Mugabe and Zanu PF have intensified their war against the
people. The regime, instead of addressing the plight of Zimbabweans, has run
out of options. The most pressing needs of the people today are food and
jobs. Unemployment, poverty and hunger drove our people onto to the
streets.

"The attacks on the flea markets and informal businesses, the
seizure of the people's paltry possessions and the assault on the available
shelter are all intended to punish urban Zimbabweans for rejecting a
political party that has failed us as a nation. The destruction of people's
sources of income and their homes has hit thousands of families in a
devastating way. Thousands are destitute. Their children no longer go to
school. They have lost their entire possessions." - Morgan Tsvangirai,
President, MDC.

"The behaviour of the members of the police who are
taking part in this operation is excessively violent and lacks the respect
of the human being." - AM Chaumba, national director, Catholic Commission
for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe.